Producer: Amin Surani
Director: Jayant Gilatar
Star Cast: Shabana Azmi, Juhi Chawla, Divya Dutta, Upasna Singh, Girish Karnad, Zarina Wahab, Sameer Soni, Aarya Babbar, Gavie Chahal, Naveen Sharma, Adi Irani, Rishi Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Richa Chaddha, Akshita Arora & Kabir Arora
Genre: Drama
Verdict: Good
Director Jayant Gilatar has paid a well – deserved tribute to the most neglected and almost forgotten tribe namely the TEACHERS, in his latest outing Chalk N Duster.
Plot: Chalk N Duster is all about teacher & student’s communication. It highlights the problem of teachers & students where teaching way in the education system is changing day by day. In fact the film is an emotional journey of two teachers Vidya (Shabana Azmi) and Jyoti (Juhi Chawla), serving at a Mumbai based high school. Their passion and love for teaching, bonds them in a special relationship with their students. Their gratification is good grades and moral values which they strive to impart to students. However, in an evil turn of events, a wicked lady, Kamini (Divya Dutta) gets appointed as the principal, thus changing the fate of the administration.
Aces: Seasoned actors like Shabana Azmi & Juhi Chawla’s par excellence performance. Other senior actors like Girish Karnad, Upasna Singh, Zarina Wahab, Sameer Soni,
Aarya Babbar etc also leave an impact, but it is Divya Dutta in her vampish avatar who deserves a noteworthy mention. Watch out for the nail biting climax a la Slumdog Millionare. And lastly kudos to producer Amin Surani and director Jayant Gilatar for making a meaningful film like Chalk N Duster.
Minuses: The slow space of the movie and more than one unwanted scenes and characters.
Last Word: The film will pick up in the multiplexes as well as the single theatre’s mainly by word of mouth publicity.
